Sears locked the doors for good on its Regency Square Mall store about 6 p.m. Sunday.
“Sears Regency is now closed forever,” an associate announced over a loudspeaker about 5:40 p.m., urging shoppers in the store to take their goods, being offered at a deep discount, to one of the few remaining checkouts.
The closing comes after Sears Holdings announced April 21 it would close the Regency Sears and two area Kmart stores as part of a plan to shutter unprofitable locations.
Associates at the two Kmarts that will close in Neptune Beach and on San Jose Boulevard said Sunday those stores would close July 31.
Other than the fixtures, many marked as “sold,” few goods remained during the Sears store’s final hours.
A few watchbands, rugs, pants, broken costume jewelry and a miscellany of other items remained at 5:40 p.m., although a few shoppers were still in the store after the doors were locked.
Sears built the two-story, 196,000-square-foot Regency store in 1981 at the west end of the mall at 9501 Arlington Expressway.
Sears owns the store, meaning it can control what happens with the structure.
There were signs of change before Sears Holdings announced the closing. By then, the store had moved its second-floor inventory to the first level and also closed access to the interior of the mall.
Sears said in April it would close 68 Kmart stores and 10 Sears stores in late July.
The company continues to operate Sears department stores in The Avenues and Orange Park malls. It has one Jacksonville Kmart store at 1501 Normandy Village Parkway.
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